Societies Incorporated as Boards - What you need to Know

What impact does the new Incorporated Societies Act 2022 have on societies incorporated as boards under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957?

Some societies in New Zealand are not incorporated societies; they are instead societies which have incorporated as boards under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957 (the CTA).

Societies incorporated as boards under the CTA can be found on the Charitable Trusts Register, but they are not trusts and should operate under a society constitution rather than a trust deed.

Now that the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 has come into effect, societies are no longer able to take the approach of incorporating as a board under the CTA. The only option for a society to incorporate as a legal entity is through the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 – otherwise they will remain an unincorporated group of individuals.

An existing society incorporated as a board under the CTA can choose to either:

• continue to be a board incorporated under the CTA as if that legislation had not been amended by the new Incorporated Societies Act; or
• apply to register as an incorporated society under the new Incorporated Societies Act.

Option (a) requires no further action.

Option (b) requires the society to review and update its existing constitution to comply with the new Incorporated Societies Act.

Discovering that a society is incorporated as a board under the CTA rather than a standard incorporated society can come as a surprise even to the society’s own governing group. The team at MoranLaw has the specialist expertise to help your society understand its legal structure and make any changes that may be required.